Indeed, if one adds up the estimated value of real estate held by "the poor" in these countries, the total value comes to something in the neighborhood of $9.3 billion. The only problem is that most of this wealth is not in the form of legal titles to property; instead, these are "informal" ownerships not recognized or enforced by the political authorities in these parts of the world.

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The heart of de Soto's argument is that under this informal system, a vast amount of private wealth exists as "dead capital." Without legal title to real property -- residential homes, retail businesses, factories, apartment buildings -- the informal owners are unable to tap into either the national or global financial markets. Normal loans or lines of credit with real property as the collateral are difficult to acquire.